John,
Another post explained that the analyzer would give you an idea of how your
antenna is affected with respect to SWR and impedance. If you are
concerned primarily with how your antenna is "getting out", I suggest a
field strength meter. A simple one will do the job, but you will probably
need a friend to help you make the best use of it.
As an example of how you might use a field strength meter, consider
anchoring or tying up your boat away from other boats or buildings. Your
friend could be 50 or 100 yards away on another boat or on the dock,
equipped with the meter and a HT. After you get a baseline measurement,
you can move or adjust the antenna, then transmit and let your friend tell
you how the change affected the field strength. Of course, given a single
orientation of your boat relative to the measurement point, you will only
have knowledge of the pattern in one direction. It would be better if you
could get measurements from multiple angles.
With some good help and a few measurements you should be able to figure out
a good configuration for your antenna, and you will have some idea of the
directivity.
Rob
KK4R
At 06:23 PM 8/3/2005, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Comrades,
what I was wondering was whether an analyzer would help me locate and tune
an antenna on my boat. I was hoping to find out whether it would "see"
the capacitance and other effects of several of the large metal structures
above deck. I was hoping that I would be able to move the antenna around,
maybe tip it a bit, adjust its ground connections and try a lot of things
and have some hint of progress show up on the analyzer. I was hoping I
would be able to see whether grounding these other structures was
worthwhile or indifferent. I am not likely to have to deal with strong
adjacent signals nor other structures. All "near-fiield" effects will be
caused by a large radar arch (aluminum), an aluminum jib crane (dinghy
lift) and the other antennas. As always, I'm astonished at the knowledge
available on this reflector and am appreciative of the help I'm getting.
John Ferguson
M/V Arcadian
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